By Avik Chattopadhyay
Elections are the appraisal time for any political party. The outcomes tell one where it stands in the context of its KRAs and delivery against goals and targets. Just like any brand in the corporate world. The performances in specific segments, markets and customer targets do not tend to be the same, depending on the intensity of each effort.
We have just gone through appraisal times in Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. In the first, the context was the Municipal Corporation of Delhi [MCD]. Three different political brands got A+ in the three markets. Of these, the AAP brand has taken my interest as it has seen ups and downs just like in the ‘Saap Seedi’ or ‘Snakes & Ladders’ game.
It wrested the MCD from the BJP, lost in the Gujarat market and withdrew from the Himachal market. Three different markets and customer types and three outcomes. One has to see all three outcomes together than piecemeal to get the picture of how the brand is performing in a national context. Post-appraisal analysis of each market should be the next step of deep-dive analysis. Many brands do the analysis the other way round which robs them of the key indicators across markets and customer segments that helps in creating the bigger picture in the first place.
Given this hypothesis, Brand AAP should be worried right now. It lies on the board of a Snakes & Ladders game right now even though it might think of itself being on a chessboard. Here are the reasons why…
The numbers don’t add up
Out of 250 seats in the MCD, it managed to get only 134. I am sure it would have internally expected a number closer to 170-180. The post-result media reportage used terms like “wrested control” and “managed to restrict BJP to 104”. This was not a landslide that their support base had expected.
The assembly results did not reflect in the corporation result. The latter is the grassroots while the former is the superstructure. And that is worrisome if the grassroots do not recognise and reward you for your efforts over all these years! The target customer is not entirely convinced of your intent and actions as the initial euphoria has worn off and the dust has settled down.
This should be a matter of huge concern within AAP. While it puts on the beaming smile for the outside, hope it does immediate assessment of what made it under perform. Has it been milking the past glory of its initiatives in health, education and electricity for too long? Does the customer not see any product in the portfolio? Have the initial products been upgraded and made ready for tomorrow? Portfolio management is crucial to any brand’s relevance and AAP has to work on the same with a clean sheet of paper once again.
Living someone else’s life
Entering the Gujarat market for the first time, you certainly have performed admirably by garnering 12.91% of all votes [roughly 3.4 million votes] even though it translates into only five assembly seats. The ‘funnel’ is rich and you need to convert better before the next appraisal. Also, the five constituencies should be nurtured so well that word of mouth helps you multiply next time.
But is this enough or did you under-utilise your potential? Just like the current football World Cup teaches us, possession is not everything and attempts at goal count for nothing. AAP could have done much better if it would have stuck to its own narrative of “education + health + entitlements” instead of suddenly wanting to live someone else’s life, pointedly the BJP’s. it veered into the dangerous playground of religion and rituals…basically the territory of the main opponent, thereby losing its own identity. If the customer sees the new brand playing copycat of the market leader, might as well stay with the leader. It is like a Sensodyne trying to be a Colgate. Or a Hyundai trying to be a Maruti Suzuki. Sure recipe for underachievement and gradual erosion of the brand’s key promise. If it carries on in the same way in the Gujarat market, it should not expect any more than 5% vote share in the next appraisal!
Management by remote control
This has never worked and never will. The global CEO cannot run every market and represent the brand in all. Also, expats do not seem to work nowadays as the customer takes no brand at face value. The market-centric team needs to be created well before market entry. It does work the other way. Gone are the days when the customer missed the presence of a brand and queued up for it at launch.
Appraisal reports of the market leader have also shown that merely flying down the global CEO for large functions and foundation stone ceremonies has not ensured an A+ in every market. In fact, in your own domestic market, it has not worked for the market leader, so why will you try the same in the leader’s domestic market? The market needs to see your regional team literally preparing the soil painstakingly before tilling it. However digital the world may become, trust is built on the physical presence of the local leadership team. Success in another market is not a guarantee of success in another. It is merely a testimonial of a brand’s capability and capacity to perform, not the intent.
If I were in the AAP leadership team, I would be worried about these conflicting signals from the three appraisals my brand has gone through. In my victory lies vulnerability and in my defeat lies underutilisation of my brand’s potential. Both are equally worrisome requiring me as a newly-anointed “national” political brand to shift to a different board game altogether!
Avik Chattopadhyay is a senior brand strategist based in Gurugram. He writes on MxMIndia every other Thursday. His views here are personal